The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Living Hell for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
Lottie is looking forward to spending time with her relatives over the holidays, but admits a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her hearing protection - especially during the holiday meal.
For her, the holidays often feels like a particularly difficult season as the noises of other people chewing, slurping and sniffling make her feel intense distress.
"I get this wave of instant dread, my whole body will just tighten and it as though I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these triggers."
The individual has lived with this condition since she was 16 and for her that makes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds produced by other people.
It's surprisingly common across the population. Researchers discovered almost one in five people suffer from it.
Typically it's noises associated with bodily functions that trigger a reaction, including examples such as crunching, breathing, and pen clicking.
Triggering Stress
The sufferer notes: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you dread it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a constant struggle of managing my symptoms to make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's clear why the most wonderful time of the year can quickly turn into a living nightmare for those with the condition.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a powerful reaction that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
She, a young adult, who has struggled with sound sensitivity from childhood, says the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to manage the meal. On any other day, she would often retreat in a separate space to minimize distressing triggers.
She says her sensitivity is worse around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"There is pressure to spend time with loved ones, and I want to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"I feel as if this sudden rage washes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and begin to weep and then the stress response will kick in.
"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and melodramatic, but it's tough to describe without firsthand experience."
Several Strategies to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from specialists.
- Visualise a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is key. Attempt to link the particular sound affecting you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. This technique is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the culprit. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly attempt mimicking the sound. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help redirect your focus and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone making the noise is having to make that sound. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not at their best or could be emotional. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. While the noise stays the same, your interpretation of it shifts from being irritating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
